Pressure is increasing against the government
of China for its business ties
to Sudan, and for its inaction as the
Sudanese government pursues genocide
in the Darfur region—and the 2008 Beijing
Summer Olympics are providing useful
leverage. Darfur activist groups have
begun to link the Olympics with the Darfur
genocide, according to a recent New
York Times report. The Times credits "Hollywood,"
and in particular, Mia Farrow and
Steven Spielberg. Farrow has "start[ed] a
campaign to label the Games in Beijing
the ‘Genocide Games' and call[ed] on
corporate sponsors and even Mr. Spielberg,
who is an artistic adviser to China
for the Games, to publicly exhort China
to do something about Darfur." After
Farrow warned Spielberg, in a Wall Street
Journal op-ed, that he could "go down
in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the
Beijing Games," Spielberg sent a letter to
Chinese President Hu Jintao "condemning
the killings in Darfur and asking the
Chinese government to use its influence
in the region" to end the genocide. Soon
afterward, China sent a senior official to
tour refugee camps in Darfur and pushed
the Sudanese government to accept U.N.
peacekeepers.

Hollywood luminaries may be garnering
the most attention, but their activities
represent only a small slice of the international
campaign to pressure China
for its cozy business dealings with the
Sudanese government. Darfur activists
in the United States have begun a campaign
to pressure U.S. investment firms
to divest from two Chinese oil companies
that operate in Sudan and thereby help to
fund the genocide. Fidelity Investments,
according to the Massachusetts-based
group Fidelity Out of Sudan, "through its
mutual funds, not only has been a major
investor in two of the largest companies
in the oil industry in Sudan, PetroChina
(PTR ) and China Petroleum (SNP , aka Sinopec),
but it has been significantly increasing
its holdings in these companies and is
the largest holder of PetroChina (PTR) on
the New York Stock Exchange." According
to Fidelity Out of Sudan chair Eric Cohen,
"PetroChina's government-owned
parent company, China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC), is a major enabler
of the genocide in Darfur, because
70-80 percent of the income generated
from Sudan's lucrative revenue sharing
agreement with CNPC is funneled into its
military." The group's campaign, called
"400,000 Voices for 400,000 Lives," is also
targeting Warren Buffet's investment firm,
Berkshire Hathaway, which has a $3 billion
stake in PetroChina. At the company's annual
meeting in May, Berkshire Hathaway
shareholders will have the opportunity to
vote on whether the company should divest
from PetroChina.

For more information about the campaign
and to sign a petition asking Fidelity and
Berkshire Hathaway to divest from any Darfur-
related oil investments, visit www.FidelityOutOfSudan.
com.